In 1969 Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the second man to walk on the Moon when he followed Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface.
Armstrong and Aldrin landed their spacecraft, the Eagle, in an area of the Moon called the Sea of Tranquillity and explored the surface for more than two hours.
A Korean War combat pilot, Aldrin also flew aboard the Gemini 12 spacecraft in 1966 in preparation for the historic Apollo 11 landing.
Photo: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon (NASA)
Although Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation is a good approximation of gravity, more precise measurements of the Moon's orbit show it is not a perfect explanation.
James May meets Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke. From mission control in Houston, Duke was in direct communication with the Apollo 11 astronauts inside the landing craft, Eagle. He later walked on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission.
The crew of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon and walked on its surface. Collins remained behind in the command module, which orbited the Moon during the landing.
Project Apollo, the United States's manned Moon landing programme, culminated in 1969 with Apollo 11. Mission commander Neil Armstrong's famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", spoken as he stepped onto the lunar surface, were heard by an estimated 600 million television viewers. This clip contains some re-enactment footage.
Buzz Aldrin describes what it was like to leave the Gemini 12 capsule while orbiting above the Earth in 1966, three years before he set foot on the Moon.
Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon. He was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. On July 21, 1969, he set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is also a retired United States Air Force pilot.
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